Washington DC - Two former FBI agents were recently charged for allegedly lying to Congress regarding an investigation involving Hunter Biden's laptop.

According to a press release published by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday, Nikki Cole Floris (46) of Virginia and Bradley Benavides (56) of South Carolina turned themselves into authorities, and are now facing charges for making false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch.

The two were part of the now-defunct Foreign Influence Task Force (FITF), which was tasked with securing the 2020 election from foreign malign influence. 

In 2023, both testified before Congress that the FITF had no involvement in the FBI's investigations into Biden, but the DOJ claims to have evidence that both openly discussed the matter with other officials.

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FBI Director Kash Patel claimed one of them - but did not say who - is "on record privately claiming to be 'running a shadow government' during the 2020 election."

Since the start of his second term, President Donald Trump - who has long pushed the false narrative that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him by Hunter's father, former President Joe Biden, has sought to use the DOJ to target his political opponents.

According to CBS News, defense attorneys and the magistrate judge who presided over a hearing on Friday questioned the timing of the charges, as their testimony was given three years ago.

Judge Zia Faruqui, who agreed the timing was "strange," turned down a request from prosecutors to delay a preliminary hearing, and scheduled a follow-up on Tuesday.